Reaching Out to Those in Need Through Cash-for-Work Projects

“Bread for all People”, an organization of the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Germany, had organized a symposium with the theme: “You go, give them something to eat” in September 2019. Fr. Klaus Vaethroeder, the Mission Procurator of Jesuit Mission Germany, asked me to make a presentation. I shared two personal experiences, one positive and one negative, about my hostel students in India. These two experiences made me end my presentation with the phrase: “The really poor are people of dignity; do not make them into beggars”. This phrase was well accepted by the organizers.

In the last Richie’s Letters (August 2021), this approach was also stressed by Fr. Totet.

Jesuit Service Cambodia (JSC) and the Karuna Battambang Organization (KBO) of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang are being supported by the organization GIZ (Society for International Cooperation) of the German Government, through Cash-for-Work projects. GIZ was introduced to us by the German Ambassador in Cambodia. He had heard about our work because of the support that I had received from a Priest benefactor of mine in Germany. He contacted me, asked me for details about our project and then all this followed.

Through this project, GIZ wants to assist individuals and families who are bearing the negative impact of the present pandemic situation.

JSC and KBO have presented a variety of programs for this GIZ support. About 290 workers will benefit from these projects, which are:

• Renovation of 3 village schools
• Repairing Roads
• Digging of 2 ponds by hand
• Construction of a road in Tuol Prasat village
• Improvement of facilities in the Bossthom village school
• Environment clean up and bush removal in Phnom Bak village
• Preparation of rice field for “School Children’s Program for Agriculture and Ecology”
• Ring Road construction in Xavier Jesuit School.
• Training of youth with physical disabilities in the garment factory

Here is a photo of the road construction at Tuol Prasat village through this project. It will be the connecting road to the new settlement.

We are truly grateful to the Ambassador of Germany and to GIZ for this support. They have motivated us to do more with the support from our benefactors.

Br. Tam and Ms. Sinat of Xavier Jesuit School visit homes of families in the neighborhood regularly as also homes of our students who live in other villages. Their attention now is focused on the needs of elderly women, mostly over 70 years of age, and other women with health problems, disabilities, and even blindness. Some of these women are caring for their grandchildren because their parents are migrant laborers. During this pandemic situation, it has been hard for them to provide sufficient food for the family. Respecting their dignity we offer them Cash-for-Work.

To begin with, the plan is to give them work for half a day, twice a week. Though this is a small income, this one day’s wage per week helps them to get some basic needs for their family. These are the living conditions of some of the families.

Br. Tam, a Regent from the Vietnam Province, has already spent 2 years with Jesuit Mission in Cambodia. Next year here he returns to Vietnam for his Theology and his Ordination to the Priesthood after which he will be returning to Jesuit Mission in Cambodia. His heart is with the poor. His dream is to be able to reach out to the families in such a way that children of poor families in various communities can be given sufficient support and be able to get admission to our Xavier Jesuit School.

Because schools and our Hostels are closed since mid-March this year, the school complex was in a state of neglect. Br. Tam decided to assist these women in need with work in the school complex to begin with. Besides helping these women get an income it is also a great help for the school. The grass they cut and collect will be converted into compost.

This is just the beginning.